"Yeah. Pepperoni with extra cheese." I walk over to the window and look out at the ocean. "Guess I won't be walking on the beach anymore."
"You still can, but maybe a different beach."
I walk back to Jackson. "Who would do that to her? Strangle her and dump her body? I don't know how someone could do that."
"Some people can justify most anything. Like Braden. If someone makes him angry, he thinks he has a right to go after them."
"And kill them?"
"Depends on what they did. In Braden's case, I think he loses control and doesn't realize what he's doing until it's too late."
"You think he killed Andrea, don't you?"
Jackson sits down on the couch. "I'd rather not say."
"Why not?"
"I know how it feels to be accused of something you didn't do. I'm living it right now and it's fucking hell. I could see Braden losing it and doing something to Andrea but I don't want to accuse him of it unless I know for sure that he did it."
I sit down next to Jackson and rest my head on his chest. His arm curls around me, making me feel safe in what at the moment feels like a very unsafe world.
"You need to do homework?" he asks. "I could leave after dinner. Give you time to catch up."
"I can't do homework. Not with everything that's going on."
"It'll be going on for a long time. You can't stop doing stuff while you wait for this to get resolved. It could take years."
"I don't care about school. It's not like I'm going to college."
"You could apply. If you get in, it doesn't mean you have to go."
"I don't know. I'll think about it."
"You still planning to go back to New York?"
I look up at him. "Not if my boyfriend's here."
"I don't know where I'll end up. I've started applying to colleges but now that all this has happened, I doubt I'll get in anywhere. Colleges don't usually want students who've been accused of murder."
"When they find the real killer, it'll prove that you're innocent. Colleges won't count that against you."
"They might, especially since I was accused of killing Andrea too. They'll think I'm one of those rich guys who used his money to get away with murder."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to apply anyway and see what happens. But if they don't find the killer, this case could literally drag on for years. I'll be stuck here, waiting for a trial."
"Then I'll wait here with you."
"No." Jackson turns to me. "I don't want you doing that. I don't want you wasting your life waiting for something to happen. It's bad enough I have to do it. I don't want you doing it too."
"What are you saying? You're breaking up with me?"
"I'm saying I don't want you waiting around for me. When all this is over, I could end up going to prison."
"Then I'll wait for you to get out. I'll spend every day trying to prove that you're innocent."
"I don't want you doing that." He takes my hand. "You need to live your life. Waiting for a guy to get out of prison isn't a life."
